After a five-and-a-half-hour period where only 13 overs were bowled, the first ODI between West Indies and India in Providence was called off by the umpires due to a wet outfield.

In that period, Chris Gayle played his slowest-ever ODI innings (minimum 25 balls), scoring only four singles in 31 deliveries. At the opposite end, Evin Lewis ensured there was something for the home fans to cheer, blitzing an unbeaten 36-ball 40 that included three shoveled pulls over deep midwicket.

The match began 90 minutes after the scheduled start, a delay forced by morning showers. When play started, though, following Virat Kohli's decision to bowl, the sun was bathing upon a half-filled Providence Stadium, but with rain scheduled towards the afternoon, it was not long before the first interruption happened.

With Mohammed Shami, from around the wicket, troubling the sedate Gayle, and Lewis failing to find gaps in the infield, the teams first left the ground after 5.4 overs with West Indies yet to reach double digits. Over an hour later, the players returned, and Lewis made full use of the wet ball, shoveling Bhuvneshwar Kumar for six. In the next over, he creamed 15 runs off left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed, with a pulled six over midwicket sandwiched between two flicked fours through the on side.

The partnership was primarily saved by Lewis' aggression with Gayle failing to find his timing, and it was eventually Kuldeep Yadav who ended the batsman's innings in the 11th over.

Playing his 299th ODI - equalling West Indies' record-holder Brian Lara - Gayle needed 11 runs to become the team's highest-ever ODI run-scorer, but swinging conditions early on meant he was either splicing the ball or missing it completely. While Lewis' rampage was on, Gayle was unable to break free as he tried to heave Kuldeep's full-pitched stock delivery over the leg side, only to inside-edge it onto the stumps.

Rain returned two overs later, and it was intermittent enough for the umpires to call the game off at 3.12pm local time. Wet patches on the field earlier in the day had delayed the game's restart, and in anticipation of the ground not being ready by 4pm - the cut-off time for a 20-over-a-side shootout - umpires Nigel Duguid and Adrian Holdstock called off the match. Ironically, a few minutes after that decision, the sun returned, but by then it was too late.